Alexander

“Defender of mankind” — Greek via Latin origin

Boy's name · #30 in the US (2025) · 90s

Alexander reached its best rank, #4, in 2009 and ranked #30 in 2025. About 736,000 boys have carried it since 1880. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records. Alexander's short forms are Alex, Sandy, Alec, Ally, and Lex. About 1,900 boys a year are given Alex as their full name. Popular twin pairings with Alexander include Nicholas, Benjamin, and Anthony for boys, and Abigail, Sophia, and Isabella for girls.

Around the world: #15 in Finland (other-lang.) (2025) · #17 in Austria (2025) · #20 in Finland (Swedish-sp.) (2025) · #22 in Australia (NSW) (2025) · #22 in Scotland (2025).

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 51 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Alexanders

Alexander the Great — king of Macedonia and conqueror of Achaemenid Persia (356–323 BC)
Alexander Pushkin — Russian poet, playwright, and novelist (1799–1837)
Alexander Graham Bell — Canadian-American scientist inventor of telephone (1847–1922)
Alexander Lukashenka — President of the Republic of Belarus
Alexander von Humboldt — Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769-1859)

In stories & tradition

Alexander (Lex Luthor) — Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice · Superman
Alexander (Havok) — Uncanny X-Men
Alexander Mahone — Prison Break

What Alexanders become

Among 17,291 notable people named Alexander:

Military figures appear 2.08× more often than among typical names — e.g. Alexander Suvorov, Russian marshal (1730–1800).

Similar names: Xander · Gabriel · Alex · Luke · Anthony · Christian

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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